Graduating at the very bottom of his
1847 class at West Point, Henry Heth served 14 years on frontier duty before resigning his
infantry captaincy on April 25, 1861, to serve his native Virginia.
His assignments included: captain, Infantry
(spring 1861); colonel, 45th Virginia (1861); brigadier general, CSA January 6, 1862);
commanding District of Lewisburg (February 6-May 8, 1862); commanding division, Department
of East Tennessee July 3-December 1862); commanding the District, same department
(December 1862); commanding the department January 1863); commanding Field's (old)
Brigade, A.P. Hill's Division, 2nd Corps, Army of Northern Virginia (March 5-May 2, and
late May 1863); major general, CSA (May 24, 1863); commanding the division (May 2-3, 1863)
commanding division, 3rd Corps, same army (May 30-July 1 and July 1863-February 1865 and
March-April 9, 1865); and commanding the corps (February-March 1865).
His initial service came in the Kanawha Valley
and the Lewisburg area of western Virginia. He joined Kirby Smith in East Tennessee in the
summer of 1862 and commanded a division and briefly the department. At the request of
Robert E. Lee, who called the brigadier by his first name, allegedly the only case of Lee
doing this with his generals, Heth was transferred to the Army of Northern Virginia.
Commanding a Virginia brigade he fought at Chancellorsville and was in command of the
division until wounded.
Returning to duty he was soon promoted (an
October 1862 appointment as major general had not been confirmed), and given a division in
the new 3rd Corps. On the first day at Gettysburg he was wounded but recovered to fight at
Falling Waters, Bristoe Station, and Mine Run before the end of the year. The next spring,
and summer he guided his men through the Overland Campaign and supervised them in the
trenches around Petersburg, often sallying forth to defeat Union attempts to cut the
railroads and highways into the beleaguered city. Briefly in corps command during the
final winter of the conflict, he surrendered with his chief at Appomattox. He was involved
in insurance after the peace. (Morrison, James L., ed., The Memoirs of Henry Heth)
Source: "Who Was Who In The Civil War" by Stewart Sifakis